Author Archives: Jerry Prugar

Creep is a permanent sag in the wood member (it may also occur in concrete or masonry) caused by the stretching and adjusting of the wood fibers to the sustained weight on them, that is, the weight of the member… Read More →

In case you have been one of the lucky ones that hasn’t noticed, the weather conditions were pretty good for ice damming and leakage from ice damming during the middle parts of February 2014 in the Cleveland Ohio Metropolitan area. … Read More →

In our last blog we discussed the potential effects of the excessive dryness in homes this winter (2013-2014) in Northeast Ohio. But as dry as the interior has been there is also an increase in damage from the increased… Read More →

One of the local television news programs I watched recently broadcast a story regarding how our bodies were being dried out by the excessive operation of our home heating systems during the extremely cold temperatures. The advice for this… Read More →

Here we see some construction details that caused me to say, “What the heck? What were they thinking?” Is that vent backwards or am I just disoriented? Is THAT FOUR LAYERS of shingles under that vent? There is a reason… Read More →

What’s best for floor joists in residential construction: traditional sawn lumber, engineered I-Joists, or wood trusses? The answer to this is more complicated than “which is the best.” The answer is subjective. That is, it depends not only on the… Read More →

I got a real chuckle this week reading an article entitled Lateral Loads Generated by Occupants on Exterior Decks on page 36 in the January 2014 issue of Structure magazine. As the title indicates it was about lateral design loads… Read More →

I don’t know how many leaning porch piers we have evaluated, but I can say – “a lot!” Leaning porch piers are usually noticed by the tenant or owner of the property after a strong wind storm, a vehicle impact… Read More →